Charles McKnight (October 10, 1750 – November 16, 1791) was an American
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
during and after the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. He served as a
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
and physician in the Hospital Department of the
Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
under General
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
and other subordinate commanders. McKnight was one of the most respected surgeons of his day
[Handerson, p. 817.][Alexander, p. 143.] and was remembered by one colleague as "particularly distinguished as a practical surgeon … at the time of his death (he) was without a rival in that branch of his profession."
[Nevet, p. 36.]
Early life
McKnight was born in
Cranbury Township in the colonial
Province of New Jersey
The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the ...
in 1750. His only sibling was his younger brother, Richard. His father, also named Charles McKnight, emigrated to the colonies from
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
sometime around 1740 and was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...
as a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister in 1742.
[Cameron, p. 55.] He became a minister of some note, and was one of the founders and trustees of the College of New Jersey (now
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
). Reverend McKnight opposed
British governance in
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the Revolutionary War. In the ...
and was a loud voice for opposition and overthrow of the British government in New Jersey. According to
Martha J. Lamb, Reverend McKnight received a severe
saber cut to his head in the slashing melee that mortally wounded
General Hugh Mercer at the
Battle of Princeton.
[Lamb, p. 285.] His
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
at
Middletown Point was burned in 1777 and Reverend McKnight was arrested.
[Schuyler, p. 260.] While in custody aboard the British
prison ship
A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nat ...
HMS ''Jersey'' in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, Rev. McKnight's health rapidly failed, and he was released shortly before his death on January 1, 1778.
[Nevet, p. 35.]
The younger McKnight attended schools in New Jersey and graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1771, in the same class as
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
,
Gunning Bedford Jr.
Gunning Bedford Jr. (1747 – March 30, 1812) was an American Founding Father, delegate to the Congress of the Confederation ( Continental Congress), Attorney General of Delaware, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 which draf ...
,
Henry Brackenridge
Henry Marie Brackenridge (May 11, 1786 – January 18, 1871) was an American writer, lawyer, judge, superintendent, and U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1786, he was educated by his father, the writer and judge Hugh ...
, and
Philip Freneau
Philip Morin Freneau (January 2, 1752 – December 18, 1832) was an American poet, nationalist, polemicist, sea captain and early American newspaper editor, sometimes called the "Poet of the American Revolution". Through his newspaper, th ...
.
[Nevet, p. 34.][Hunt, p. 15.] He was one of the founders of the
American Whig Society, along with Brackenridge, Madison,
Samuel Stanhope Smith
Samuel Stanhope Smith (March 15, 1751 – August 21, 1819) was a Presbyterian minister, founding president of Hampden–Sydney College and the seventh president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) from 1795 to 1812. His stormy ...
, Bedford, Freneau,
John Beatty,
John Henry of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, and
William Bradford.
[Cameron, p. 56.] McKnight studied
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
and
surgery
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...
privately with eminent
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
surgeon
William Shippen,
but left before he completed his studies and entered the
Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
in 1775.
Continental Army surgeon
In late 1775,
Benjamin Church, the Director General, assigned McKnight to the Putnam House building, one of six hospitals of the army's Hospital Department in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. He remained in that division, which supported Washington's army, until, during a period of great scarcity of medical and surgical supplies for the sick and wounded, McKnight went with other surgeons and physicians to
North Castle, New York
North Castle is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 11,841 at the 2010 census. It has three hamlets: Armonk, Banksville, and North White Plains.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the tow ...
with Washington's army when the
Battle of White Plains
The Battle of White Plains was a battle in the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War, fought on October 28, 1776 near White Plains, New York. Following the retreat of George Washington's Continental Army northward f ...
began in October 1776. The Continental Army lost the battle, and the British took
Fort Washington and
Fort Lee, which pushed Washington's ragged army south toward New Jersey in December 1776, which set the stage for the
Battle of Trenton.
McKnight remained at North Castle until
John Morgan, the Director General, ordered him and Samuel Adams Jr. (the son of
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, an ...
of Massachusetts) to set up a new hospital near
Peekskill, New York
Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fro ...
, for more than 300 sick soldiers of General
William Heath
William Heath (March 2, 1737 – January 24, 1814) was an American farmer, soldier, and political leader from Massachusetts who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Life and career
Heath m ...
's division. Unable to find an acceptable site for a hospital, the two surgeons took over accommodations in
Fishkill, New York
Fishkill is a village (New York), village within the Fishkill (town), New York, town of Fishkill in Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, New York (state), New York, United States. The village is in the eastern part of the town of Fishkill o ...
, twenty miles north of Peekskill. Washington, however, sent convalescents to Peekskill because Morgan told him the hospital was there. Morgan was dismissed as Director General soon thereafter, in January 1777, due to rancor with Washington over supplies and a rampant
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
epidemic then raging its way through the army. Morgan's management style rankled the surgeons, including McKnight, as Morgan was wrestling with Shippen, McKnight's mentor, over control of the hospitals in New Jersey. Isaac Foster took over temporary supervision of the hospitals on the east side of the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
after Morgan's dismissal at Washington's request.
McKnight served later as a surgeon in the Pennsylvania Battalion of the
Flying Camp
A Flying Camp was a military formation employed by the Continental Army in the second half of 1776, during the American Revolutionary War.
History
After the British evacuation of Boston in March 1776, General George Washington met with members of ...
.
[Heitman, p. 373.] On April 11, 1777, he was appointed Surgeon General (also called Senior Surgeon,
a subordinate position to Physician General and Director General,
[Gillett, Table 1.] not to be confused with
Surgeon General of the United States Army) of the Flying Hospital of the Middle Department,
which moved with the army during the
New York and New Jersey campaign. He served as Senior Surgeon for three years.
In December 1779, McKnight was in
with Washington, at the encampment near
Jockey Hollow
Jockey Hollow is the name for an area in southern Morris County, New Jersey farmed in the 18th century by the Wick, Guerin and Kemble families. The origin of the name is still uncertain, but was used as such at the time of the American Revolution ...
, during the worst winter of the Revolutionary War.
The Hospital Department of the army was reorganized in 1780, and McKnight was promoted to Chief Hospital Physician, the highest medical position of the Middle Department.
He served there until he left the army in January 1782.
According to records, he was one of the original members of the New York State
Society of the Cincinnati.
Later years and death
After the war ended, McKnight settled in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he married Mary Morin Scott, daughter of General
John Morin Scott
John Morin Scott (1730 – September 14, 1784) was a lawyer, military officer, and statesman before, during and after the American Revolution.
Early life
Scott was born in Manhattan in 1730. He was the only child of John Scott (1702–1733) ...
.
He opened a private practice and was one of the first physicians to use a carriage to visit his patients.
McKnight published only one article, the surgical removal of an
ectopic pregnancy
Ectopic pregnancy is a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo attaches outside the uterus. Signs and symptoms classically include abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, but fewer than 50 percent of affected women have both of these symptoms. ...
, but the piece was cited later by the
Medical Society of London
The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies (being organisations of voluntary association, rather than regulation or training) in the United Kingdom.
It was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthrop ...
[Sullivan, chapter XIII.] in its ''London Medical Observations and Inquiries''.
[Footnote 301:" New York Med. and Phil. Journ. and Rev., Vol. I, 1809, p. 163. Charles McKnight communicated a similar case to James Mease (1771-1846) of Philadelphia who sent the report to ]John Coakley Lettsom
John Coakley Lettsom (1744 – 1 November 1815, also Lettsome) was an English physician and philanthropist born on Little Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands into an early Quaker settlement. The son of a West Indian planter and an Iris ...
(1744-1815). See Mem. of the Med. Soc. of London, Vol. IV, 1795, p. 342: 'Case of extra-uterine abdominal foetus successfully extracted by an operation–By the late Dr. Charles McKnight of N. Y. communicated by James Mease of Philadelphia to Dr. Lettsom."
On November 26, 1784, McKnight was appointed one of the first regents of the
University of the State of New York
The University of the State of New York (USNY, ) is the state of New York's governmental umbrella organization for both public and private institutions in New York State. The "university" is not an educational institution: it is, in fact, a lic ...
.
[Brown, p. 280.][McCaughey, p. 62.] In 1785, McKnight became
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
and surgery at Columbia College (now the
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded ...
), which his father-in-law co-founded. He also was appointed Port Physician of New York.
[Lamb, p. 284.] McKnight was remembered as an oculist, and therefore probably performed eye surgery.
McKnight maintained a steady surgical practice and held his professorship until his death from
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
,
the result of an old war injury,
on November 16, 1791 at age 41.
McKnight was interred at the corner of
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
and
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
, just beyond the gates of the historic
Trinity Churchyard
The parish of Trinity Church has three separate burial grounds associated with it in New York City. The first, Trinity Churchyard, is located in Lower Manhattan at 74 Trinity Place, near Wall Street and Broadway. Alexander Hamilton, Albert Galla ...
, next to his wife, Mary, and her father. They left four daughters
and one son, John Morin Scott McKnight, who also became a physician.
See also
*
Ford Mansion
The Ford Mansion, also known as Washington's Headquarters, is a classic 18th-century American home located at 30 Washington Place in Morristown, New Jersey. It was built by Jacob Ford Jr. in 1774 and is now owned by the National Park Service.
I ...
*
Morristown National Historical Park
Morristown National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park, headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, consisting of four sites important during the American Revolutionary War: Jockey Hollow, the Ford Mansion, Fort Nonsense ...
The Society of the CincinnatiAmerican Revolution Institute
Notes
References
Primary sources
* (14 references to McKnight in the corpus of Washington's writings)
Secondary sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McKnight, Charles
1750 births
1791 deaths
18th-century American physicians
American surgeons
Continental Army staff officers
Physicians in the American Revolution
Columbia University faculty
People of colonial New Jersey
People of New Jersey in the American Revolution
People from Cranbury, New Jersey